Well, its up and running. Very quietly compared to the old air cooling setup too.

I went with full power Push and the CPU controlled Stock Corsair pulling. Sucking in ambient air through the radiator. Lots of quiet expelling fans giving a good air flow. Improved airflow has even made the GPU marginally cooler.

100% usage on full voltage gives me a transient peak high of 48°c on CPU 0, the other four cores are under 45°c peaking at 46°c. Compare that to well over 75°c on stock air cooling. I have achieved the desired 30 degree drop. I am happy.

Idle temp does not appear to go below 37-38°c, which is also the sustained temp on its usual daytime diet of low voltage and S@H.

Thanks to everyone who commented. It was great to hear all sides to the discussion. I did listen to all the arguments before deciding. I have no idea whether the stock fan alone would have achieved the same result, because I never tried it on its own. I know the H60 pump and head is the same as the H80. The difference is only a 240 x 120mm rad with two 120 mm fans. I'm not overclocking, I just wanted to have it remain cool under full usage, and I have achieved that. Now I can come home and fire up whatever I want without worrying about snoozing S@H. Everybody wins.

I actually think the fan should be drawing air out of the case. Basically the ambient air is being heated and released into the case which is the opposite of what you want happening.In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

Well, its up and running. Very quietly compared to the old air cooling setup too.

I went with full power Push and the CPU controlled Stock Corsair pulling. Sucking in ambient air through the radiator. Lots of quiet expelling fans giving a good air flow. Improved airflow has even made the GPU marginally cooler.

100% usage on full voltage gives me a transient peak high of 48°c on CPU 0, the other four cores are under 45°c peaking at 46°c. Compare that to well over 75°c on stock air cooling. I have achieved the desired 30 degree drop. I am happy.

Idle temp does not appear to go below 37-38°c, which is also the sustained temp on its usual daytime diet of low voltage and S@H.

Thanks to everyone who commented. It was great to hear all sides to the discussion. I did listen to all the arguments before deciding. I have no idea whether the stock fan alone would have achieved the same result, because I never tried it on its own. I know the H60 pump and head is the same as the H80. The difference is only a 240 x 120mm rad with two 120 mm fans. I'm not overclocking, I just wanted to have it remain cool under full usage, and I have achieved that. Now I can come home and fire up whatever I want without worrying about snoozing S@H. Everybody wins.

Len

I'm glad you got it up and going and are pleased with your purchase and the results.

I have a question, though. What are you referring to as the "head?" Are you saying "head pressure" or a physical thing that comes in the box?

I suspect when I am forced to do my next rig rebuild, the H100 shall be my cooling choice.

And, with some case cutting and bracket fabbing, I would cut a slot to feed the tubing to the outside of the case and have the radiator/fan assembly out in the open, outside of the case entirely.

Hey, I build fire trucks.

And computers. I could make it work.

I can make it work, but I can't make it pretty.

Did I ever tell you about the Compaq case I converted from an AT to an ATX with a Sawz-All? Hey, it worked and it would still be working but it took 80 and 90mm case fans and those things are *loud* if you get 'em working hard enough to blow any air.

Sure, I could have poked big holes in the side and mounted 120mm fans, but I decided it was already so ugly it was peeling paint.

That computer was a champ. It just worked. Every other computer would have a glitch or a problem or a fan failure or something, but that one just crunched day after day after month after month.

The noise just irritated me too much one day.

Maybe the solution is to water-cool everything and ground-couple it. Somewhere down there is a fairly constant 60 degrees F and pumps are quieter than fans.

Cooling the CPU's heat output, in this case my only real aim, is best done with ambient air, rather than air pre-heated by the GPU & chipsets. It is what Corsair recommends, and when you really understand why, it makes sense. With the air cooled fan blowing it all out to the GPU it was not exactly a Great idea before. This way my GPU is actually running slightly cooler too as an added bonus.

Mark is right, in that having the whole shebang outside the case would be a better , if uglier option. But for that I would be building something for a purpose to which I don't put my PC.

If I needed to go that far, I would have built a whole system from scratch, radiator outside, with a nice large reservoir that also had cooling fins. I would have had a separate pump, large enough to add multiple GPU heads (called blocks to some?) and chipset heads too. It would probably use a large aquarium tank as a heat sink too, so the reservoir would actually sit inside the aquarium filter/pump assembly to act as an aquarium heater. It would also sit inside the new house that I had purpose built for me just after I won the lottery.

blocks to some?) and chipset heads too. It would probably use a large aquarium tank as a heat sink too, so the reservoir would actually sit inside the aquarium filter/pump assembly to act as an aquarium heater. It would also sit inside the new house that I had purpose built for me just after I won the lottery.

Len

If a lottery win were in the offering, you wouldnt need watercooling, you could simply buy a readybuilt nitrogen cooled jobbie, and put it in an outbuilding, and pipe the exhaust to the house as airconditioning:-)

I beg to differ for one simple reason. Most if not all modern case designs come with the PSU on the bottom relieving the Box of most of its heating. A modern high end GPU will have a forced air fan that has the heat flowing out the back of the case. the HDD and mobo are the only things left creating heat inside the case after than. Most of that heat would be drawn out as the water cooling fan pulls it out.

Second Most newer Cases come with Fans on top of the case drawing air in. Consider the top and front of the case the entrance and the back the exit. Check the front and top of your PC it should be at room temperatures. the back should be hot from your GPU,PSU, and if correctly installed the water cooler.

I don't think anyone wants hot air flowing out the front of their PC. In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

My radiator does indeed sit at the top, and pulls in air just as you describe. It is the meat in a fan sandwich. The PSU also has a 120mm fan drawing internal warm air past its own heat producing gubbins, and exiting to the rear. Chassis fans front and rear pull and push the air in the appropriate front to rear direction, giving excellent air flow. Several side vents allow pressure equalisation. I believe the fact that my GPU temp has also dropped, shows that the cooling system works exactly as it is supposed to.

I'm afraid actual experience tends to disprove the theory that I should be attempting to cool the CPU with pre-warmed air. My rig works. Short of the lottery win, this is as good as it gets for my money.

I fail to see how having all the heat from the CPU drawn into a case mixed with the warm air actually cools anything. You are adding heat to an already warm system. I bet you don't have a fan on your HDD south bridge or northbridge. these areas are not cooled as easily as the CPU. Also if you have a 140 MM fan on top drawing air in and the 2 120s kicking it out then the reality is you aren't cooling with very warm air. BTW my water cooler keeps my 8150 around 45C while the HSF could keep it 55-60C all of course at 100% load

The idea is to kick as much heat out of the case as quickly as possible. forcing hot air into a case can never accomplish thatIn a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

Its all a question of airflow.
If you drive 140 mph and open the window the air is cold enough also when its 100F outside.
I´m cooling my 8150 @4.4 GHZ with air at 51°C.With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.